Hearing the long-lost new words again, Li Yang couldn't help but feel warm.
He put away the folding fan with a "pop" sound, came closer and asked curiously: "Brother Wei, what is plastic surgery?"
"Uh...just disguise."
Wei Changtian said perfunctorily, his eyes always staying on Li Yang's face.
If you look closely, you will see that it still looks the same.
But in my memory, Li Yang was obviously a bit wretched. Now, although he is not very "upright", he can at least be called "elegant".
how?
Is it because he runs Chunshen Bookstore and Beijing News?
Abdominal poetry and gas from China???
"Brother Li..."
After hesitating for a moment, Wei Changtian asked in a low voice, "Are you still going to visit a brothel now?"
"Oh, I haven't been there for a long time."
Li Yang shook his head, his expression seemed to be a little regretful: "Now that the circulation of "Beijing News" is getting bigger and bigger, I am so busy all day long that I don't have time to go to such a place."
"Besides, my father has found a match for me. She is the daughter of the Minister of Rites. We will get married in the first month of the year."
"Since we are already engaged, it is not appropriate to go to the Land of Smoke and Willows..."
"..."
Good guy, you don’t even visit the brothels anymore?
Wei Changtian had the impression that what Li Yang did most before was visiting brothels, but now he doesn't even have this biggest hobby anymore.
Brother Li, what exactly have you been through...
...
For the next half hour, Wei Changtian kept reminiscing with Li Yang and Wang Er.
The three of them chatted for a long time while drinking tea in his private courtyard.
Everything in the courtyard, including the furnishings in the room, remained the same as when he left, except that the maids serving him were no longer Yuan'er and Qiuyun, and the three big hens that jumped up and down all day long disappeared.
During the chat, Wei Changtian learned more about the current situation of the Freemasonry and Chunshen Bookstore in more detail.
The former has more than 50,000 gang members in Daning and Dashu, and the chief helmsman in the capital alone has more than 3,000 people. Apart from the fact that there are no second-level officials in charge, he has become a well-deserved leader of both countries.
The largest political force.
The latter has also developed by leaps and bounds in the past two years.
Chunshen Bookstore's current "business focus" has shifted from "book printing" to "newspaper distribution". Its "leading product" "Beijing News" has a daily print volume of more than 100,000 copies.
Of course, this number is not just the main number in the capital, but also includes the semi-colons in various places.
Although many imitators have launched various types of newspapers. For example, Tianji Pavilion, which once published the "Da Ning Good and Evil List", has launched the "Jianghu Monthly".
However, these newspapers are limited by the size of the "distribution organization". From the distribution cycle, timeliness, selling price, and audience, they are not competitive with the Beijing News in all aspects.
Therefore, Chunshen Bookstore can at least completely monopolize the guidance of public opinion in Daning in the next few years.
This is by no means a wasted effort.
At least when Ning Wenjun usurped the throne, the Beijing News' reports greatly affected the perception of Ning Wenjun and Ning Yongnian in the hearts of the people.
For them, the emperor is too far away. On the contrary, the "Beijing News" published every day is more intimate and trustworthy.
"..."
"Brother Wei, when you first brought up the idea of newspapers, I just thought it was new, but I didn't expect that a mere page could have such an effect."
In the pavilion in the courtyard, Li Yang took a sip of hot tea and said with emotion: "It can be said that the people of Daning now don't even believe in imperial edicts, they just believe what is said in the Beijing News."
"If one day the young master wants to pull the emperor off the throne, I don't think he will need any soldiers. I just need to compile a few crimes for Ning Wenjun in the newspaper."
"To kill someone with a pen is something that has never happened before."
"..."
The breeze blows the gauze curtains, and the fragrance of tea overflows.
As the chief proprietor of Chunshen Bookstore and the chief writer of the Beijing News, Li Yang has obviously fully realized the huge role of grasping the throat of public opinion and what can be achieved by this.
In other words, Xuanjingsi may not be able to do many things, but the Beijing News can.
Therefore, Li Yang would naturally attribute the reason to a new thing like "newspaper".
but......
"Brother Li, killing people with a pen is not the credit of the newspaper, let alone the Beijing News."
Wei Changtian shook his head and corrected softly: "This is actually the result of 'authority'."
"authority?"
Li Yang was stunned for a moment, lowered his head and thought for a moment, and suddenly understood what Wei Changtian meant.
really.
The reason why people trust the Beijing News is not because it is a newspaper.
It's because in the hearts of the people, this thing, which is supported by information provided by the Xuanjing Division and the Freemasonry, is to a certain extent the most authoritative source of information they have access to.
Before the publication of the Beijing News, most news came from word of mouth and notices posted by the government.
The former is difficult to distinguish between true and false, and the news is mixed.
Although the latter was endorsed by the government, its timeliness was very poor, and most of the things announced had nothing to do with the daily lives of the people.
After all, government notices never talk about gossipy news and prices in various places.
In this way, the Beijing News has become the most comprehensive, timely and reliable source of news.
Many people have developed the habit of reading and listening to newspapers every day, and the things reported by the "Beijing News", no matter how big or small, can eventually be verified to be true.
Over time, this has formed a bottom-up credibility, and its "authority" has even greatly exceeded that of the government and the court.
The authority of the "government" is not even comparable to that of a "private" bookstore.
Wei Changtian and Li Yang were naturally happy to see this kind of scene, but there must be many people who didn't want to see it.
Just like...
"By the way, Brother Wei."
"A while ago, the Emperor established a new Diplomatic Reporting Department under the Ministry of Works. He must be preparing to prepare official reports."
Putting the tea cup down, Li Yang squinted his eyes and said, "Should we make this matter a secret?"
"Um......"
Wei Changtian thought for a moment and shook his head: "Forget it, you can stop it for a while, but you can't stop it for a lifetime."
"We can't be the only ones making newspapers. It's only a matter of time before the imperial court publishes official newspapers."
"If Ning Wenjun wants to do it, let him do it. We just need to ensure that the Beijing News is the most authoritative newspaper at all times."
"How to operate...Brother Li, you should know, right?"
"Hahaha, of course!"
Li Yang smiled and said: "Brother Wei, just don't worry, if the official newspaper is really printed, I will make it so that no one can believe it in less than a month!"
"That's good."
Wei Changtian nodded, seeing that Li Yang was completely different from before in terms of temperament and conversation, he once again sighed in his heart, "Things are different and people are different."
The "dogleg" who went to the brothels together all day has now become one of the most influential figures in Daning.
It may be difficult to tell how much this change has to do with Wei Changtian and how much it has to do with Li Yang himself.
Yes, it was Wei Changtian who roped him into Chunshen Bookstore, and it was also Wei Changtian who proposed the concept of the newspaper.
But the entire operation of the bookstore, including the entire process of the Beijing News from scratch, was all done by Li Yang, and he did it with great success.
So in Wei Changtian's view, Li Yang's ability to reach this point is actually more due to himself.
Wei Changtian was actually quite relieved to see that his former fox friend had finally found his "direction" in life and no longer indulged in sensuality all day long.
Of course.
Just working alone is not enough, you still have to combine work and rest.
"Brother Li, it's still early now. Are you serious about not going to Pingchangfang?"
"This matter..."
"If you don't want to, forget it."
"Ahem, it's not impossible..."
"Then let's walk?"
"Let's go! Since you said so, Brother Wei, then I will break the second precept!"
"..."
Soon, Li Yang, who "sacrificed his life for righteousness", got into the carriage and arrived at Pingchangfang in the north of the city with Wei Changtian.
Pingchangfang is still as lively as it was two years ago, and there are even more women in each building and courtyard than before.
"Tsk tsk tsk, I miss you so much!"
Walking casually in the alleys of Pingchangfang with Li Yang, Wei Changtian was deeply moved when he looked at the open windows around him and the orioles and Yanyans leaning against the windows waving handkerchiefs.
"Hahaha, Brother Wei..."
Li Yang beside him laughed twice and was about to say something.
However, at this moment, a madam standing in front of the building not far away suddenly shouted in surprise:
"Yo! Mr. Li!"
"What? You just left last night and you're here again today?"